White House may 'align' Obamacare signup dates

The Obama administration is working to push back a deadline to prevent people who buy insurance during Obamacare’s open enrollment from being hit by the law’s individual mandate penalty, a Health and Human Services official said Wednesday.

Right now people must to sign up by Feb. 15 if they want to avoid paying the penalty — even though there are six weeks left in the enrollment season.

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An HHS spokeswoman emphasized that it would not impact the timing of the individual mandate taking effect. Nor will it push back the Jan. 1 start date for benefits — when people can begin getting health coverage.

“The individual mandate timing has not changed. The deadline for signing up for insurance is March 31. It was true this a.m. It is true tonight,” said the spokeswoman, Joanne Peters.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said earlier this week that the administration wanted to “align” those dates so people could sign up all the way through March without being subject to a penalty. One Hill Democratic staffer used the term “synchronize” the dates.

”I would simply refer you to HHS for more details. But we’re working on — or they are working on aligning those policies, the enrollment period and the individual responsibility timeframe period, and they’ll issue guidance soon,” Carney said then.

What’s unclear is precisely how the administration intends to make those changes. Some experts suggested that HHS could issue a blanket exemption from the penalty for anyone who obtains insurance between Feb. 16 and March 31.

Brian Haile, vice president of the tax services company Jackson Hewitt, said the outcome of such an exemption would be “troubling” because it would require reams of paperwork. It would fall under a “hardship exemption” category, and he said in a statement it would “require millions of American families to complete an exemption application form.”

“Forcing families to fill out even more government paperwork to compensate for a bureaucratic error is the wrong path: The administration should find a way that does not subject frustrated consumers to more red tape.”

HHS officials did not explain how they would synchronize the deadlines to make sure that anyone who signed up during the designated six-month enrollment period was considered enrolled for 2014 — the first year of the deadline.

Some Democrats have suggested extending the enrollment period — because the first month has been so marred by problems with the website. But White House and HHS officials — and some in Congress — have not endorsed such a change.”